Soccer couple train, raise family during crisis

By Iliana Limon RomeroOrlando Sentinel

Wednesday

May 20, 2020 at 3:37 PM

ORLANDO, Fla. - Orlando Pride forward Sydney Leroux, like most parents around the world, is juggling.

Before she was allowed to start individual workouts at the Pride training facility in Sanford, she started each day by heading to the backyard with her husband, Orlando City forward Dom Dwyer, by about 6 a.m. to train together.

They then ducked inside to take care of their children, 3-yard-old son Cassius and 11-month-old daughter Roux.

What followed was a bit of a dance, feeding and entertaining the children, joining team Zoom meetings, putting the kids in their strollers during naps and taking them along for runs. The family already had a dog and added a puppy that wasn't house-trained yet.

"We decided that our life wasn't chaotic enough," Leroux said, laughing before noting the dogs get along well and entertain each other.

Leroux's focus is on training to compete at an elite level whenever the National Women's Soccer League resumes play and keeping her family safe during the pandemic.

Her son is still young and conversations about the coronavirus pandemic don't always make sense.

"He doesn't understand why he can't go back to school," Leroux said. "It's become his normal and he doesn't ask about it. We're in the backyard; we cook. He watches our vegetables grow.

"... I feel sad for kids because kids need to play and need to be with other children."

She has invited him to help her plant a new garden and signed on for the "Next High Five" campaign with SC Johnson and Save the Children. The goal is to help kids develop their own contact-free celebrations during the coronavirus pandemic.

She invited Cassius to help develop their celebration she posted on her social media channels and is asking others to share their no-contact celebrations using the hashtag #TheNextHighFive.

Leroux will highlight the top celebrations on her social media feeds while SC Johnson is donating $1 million to help feed children around the world as part of the campaign.

"The 'Next High Five' was the perfect kind of campaign to get him into (all the changes)," Leroux said, noting she needs her young son to get used to avoiding contact with others and frequently washing his hands.

Leroux said the family has adapted relatively well to coronavirus restrictions.

When the couple played in Kansas City, Mo., they had bought fitness equipment to fill out a home gym. They had put the equipment into storage once they moved to Orlando and took it out once MLS and NWSL training was shut down.

Leroux said the couple felt fortunate to have all the equipment and a chance to help each other stay in shape.

"I feel like we've never trained so much together before," she said. "We definitely like to push each other and push each other's limits. We're very competitive."

They both enjoy cooking and have young children, so they were accustomed to not going out frequently after working out with their respective teams.

But there is one way the shutdown has really hurt.

The players are close with their families. Leroux's mother is in Canada while Dwyer's family is in England. They all want to come help care for the young children, but they can't easily do it due to travel restrictions.

"We don't know when is the next time we're going to be able to see our families and that's really difficult," she said.

The couple, however, has been energized by recent changes.

It felt good to put on their boots and start individual workouts at Orlando City SC facilities.

Now that the pro athletes are back at work, their nanny has resumed helping with childcare.

"For me, it's difficult to be at home and to try to get everything done," Leroux said. "Now I get to focus for an hour and then I get to go back home."

It's unclear how exactly MLS and NWSL will resume play and what sort of rules there will be for families. Leroux has been outspoken in her support for working mothers in NWSL, but the level of isolation both leagues are considering could make bringing along family members difficult.

For now, Leroux is focused on reaching peak fitness after having a baby less than a year ago.

Her teammates are equally driven after struggling through a miserable 2019 season.

The first few days of Orlando Pride preseason workouts were intense before camp was shut down due to concerns about the pandemic. But the players have continued to train aggressively in isolation, driven to improve.

"We were like firing on all cylinders for those five days of training we got in preseason," Leroux said. "Everything got shut down and went down hill from there. But we're all just itching to get back. We're itching to have a good season under our belts.

"I think we were all really excited."

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